Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Obama On Education

A man who allowed the DC voucher program to shut down, leaving thousands of poor children to languish in what is generally recognized to be one of the worst school systems in the country, has no business chiding Republicans regarding their education plans. But let's watch him try anyway!

As President Barack Obama tries to sell his vision for education this week, he can’t resist talking about an issue that’s been on his mind for months: the Bush-era tax cuts.

On Tuesday — the second time in as many days — the president bashed Republicans, who want to extend the soon-to-expire cuts for the richest Americans...

A day earlier, during another meeting on higher education, Obama found himself in a spirited debate on the issue with two members of the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board who think the Republicans may have a point. They argued economic instability would persist if the tax cuts aren’t extended to everyone; Obama rebutted that continuing relief for families making less than $250,000 would benefit 98 percent of the country.

This is a guy who thinks tax policy should involve "fairness" and not merely generating revenue for the legitimate functions of government. Remember that whenever he talks about taxes.

Update: Here's an article I just came across, and it's not flattering for the president:

That deafening roar you hear—that's the sound of Barack Obama's silence on the future of school reform in the District of Columbia. And if he doesn't break it soon, he may become the first president in two decades to have left Washington's children with fewer chances for a good school than when he started.

This week President Obama will be out campaigning on the differences between the Republicans and Democrats on education. The primary thrust of his argument—which he repeated yesterday—is that Republicans want to cut education spending. Which may be a harder sell coming on the heels of his admission last week on NBC's "Today" show that "the fact is that our per-pupil spending has gone up during the last couple of decades even as results have gone down."